The environmental group Parisarakkagi Naavu has criticized the State Forest, Ecology and Environment Department for pulling back its order to declare Bengaluru's 8.61-acre Cantonment Railway Colony a biodiversity heritage site. A.T. Ramaswamy, former MLA and president of the group, called the reason given by Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre "inefficient and irresponsible." The Minister said the withdrawal was because of legal barriers under the Railway Act. "The Environment Minister said that the Railway Land Authority has promised to relocate and replant these trees. This statement by the Minister shows that the protection of 371 huge trees is not his priority, but rather to allow the trees to be cut down and to construct buildings there," said Ramaswamy. The organization welcomed the High Court's order stopping the cutting of the 371 trees without permission. Ramaswamy also suggested alternatives: "The Railway Land Authority should either give a vacant land (without trees) under its jurisdiction to a private company to build a building or demolish the old quarters and build multi-storey buildings there or allow multi-storey buildings to be built on top of railway stations like those built in foreign countries."